There is so much on my heart that I don't know where to begin. As each day passes, I am one day closer to embarking upon the 11 month journey God has set before me. Each time I think about the WR, an inexpressible joy overtakes me. Amongst the chaos of finishing school and raising money for the WR, the Lord has constantly reminded me that I must focus on what God has for me TODAY. Psalm 118: 24 says " This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." The past few weeks, I have been going through the book of John. In John 21 there is a story of a miraculous catch of fish. Most of us have heard this story numerous times. As I read this story, the part that stood out to me wasn't so much the large catch of fish, but the idea that Jesus' disciples didn't recognize Him. Verse 4 says " Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Verse 7 says " Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him and jumped into the water. " It struck me that even Jesus' disciples didn't recognize Him. After the disciples threw their nets to the right side and caught a large amount of fish, then the disciple whom Jesus loved said " It is the Lord!" How could His own disciples not recognize Jesus standing at the shore? How could they not realize that they were in the presence of the Savior? As I meditated on this verse, the Holy Spirit spoke so clearly to me saying " Emilee, you do this same thing everyday. I am in everything, but so often you don't recognize me." I began to think about the illustration of Jesus standing at the shore waiting on me to recognize Him. He's standing their watching me try to "catch fish" on my own, and He's just waiting on me to recognize Him. As soon as Peter realized it was Jesus, he jumped into the water. The Lord places us in situations and around certain people everyday. He gives us opportunities to serve Him everyday, but so often we miss it. Jesus is in EVERYTHING, we just have to recognize Him. If only I would get out of the boat and swim to Him. As I said before, I am so excited about the journey God has set before me, but I don't want to miss out on today. I don't want to miss seeing Jesus today! If I focus on July and the months to come, I will surely miss out on what God has for me today.
I am student teaching in a kindergarten class. It takes the Lord's strength to get me through each day. Some days I wonder why I ever majored in education. This past Friday, the Lord used a 5 year old ESL student to remind me why I am in education. Each student was suppose to get their parents to help them make a 100 days of school project. Every student in the class created a project except for one little boy. I told him that I would help him make whatever he wanted for his project. With the biggest smile on his face he said, " A shark! I want to make a shark!" Throughout the day he mentioned making his 100 days of school project about 100 times. Finally, it was time to make his shark! As I sat there at a table with him making his shark, he couldn't stop smiling. He repeated this phrase over and over– " This is so awesome. We are going to have the coolest 100 days project EVER!" When we finished, he had the biggest smile on his face. He was so proud of his shark that was made out of poster board and gold fish. I saw God in this little boy. I was reminded of why I am in education, to love on children like this little boy. Jesus is in everything, we just have to open our eyes and recognize Him. It is my prayer that we as disciples don't miss seeing Jesus throughout each day.
